Looking for some fresh websites to visit in order to kill a few minutes or find cool stuff to share online? Yep, I know – aren’t we all?

I’m always on the lookout for great content that might slip past the hordes of other Tweeters, Plussers, and Facebookers. Today I’m sharing five of my favorite online destinations for interesting, funny, or just plain entertaining articles and info.

With the year half over, our three critics have each selected their five favorite U.S. releases of 2015 so far.

SCOTT FOUNDAS

“Ex Machina”Novelist and screenwriter Alex Garland’s brainy, precisely calibrated chamber drama was that rare piece of contemporary sci-fi filmmaking worthy of mention in the same breath as “Blade Runner” and “The Terminator.” Whatever this modestly scaled film lacked in budgetary heft, it more than made up for in sleekly expressive production design, provocative ideas about the fine line between man and machine, and knockout performances from Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson and Alicia Vikander (as the Pinocchio-like android yearning to be a real, live girl).

“Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter”A young Japanese woman obsessed with the Coen brothers’ “Fargo” travels to the wilds of Minnesota in search of buried treasure in this comic gem from another sibling director team, ‎David and Nathan Zellner. With deadpan elan, the Zellners…

Start the week off on a positive note with some encouraging wellness news.

It seems our reasons to ditch the negativity and assume a brighter outlook just got more persuasive.

Check out the article below for the full story.

“Many negative emotions such as anger, fear, and frustration become problematic when those emotions turn into a more permanent disposition or a habitual outlook on the world,” explains Emiliana Simon-Thomas, science director of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.

If you’re like me you’re always searching for ways to beat procrastination.

I wanted to share an article I found that offers some helpful tips on how to get stuff done.

Check out the article via the link below, and share your anti-procrastination tips in the comments.

“I struggle at the end of a long day to get myself to the gym even though I know that I should go. And at the end of a long day, I also struggle with the desire to watch my favorite TV shows instead of getting work done.

And so I actually realized that those two temptations, those two struggles I faced, could be combined to solve both problems.”

THE 3D CROSSWALK

I couldn’t find much information about the artists but this 3D crosswalk street art was done somewhere in Kyrgyzstan. There was a work in progress photo on a Russian forum but no additional info. Either way it looks great and makes for a fun photo op :)

Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east. Its capital and largest city is Bishkek. As of 2013 the country’s population was estimated at 5.66 million people.

If you’re a book-lover (and especially if you’re a Kindle-lover) then here’s a blog you should know about.

Amazon has a blog called Omnivoracious (AKA “The Amazon Book Review”), and it offers a host of informative articles. I’ve been a regular reader of the blog for about one year, and I can say it’s helped me discover many new authors.

Omnivoracious is updated daily with book reviews, interviews with authors, and features on upcoming books to watch for.